SOMERSWORTH — Tenants at Cherryfield Village, a development complex off Main Street, are concerned recent fixes to one of their buildings won't fully rid the facility of mold like property managers anticipate.

Instead, some of those tenants are concerned two individuals displaying illnesses with symptoms "identical" to those related to inhaling mold spores will get sicker and sicker as tenants try to get full intervention from the managers and the state, according to Lisa Willard, who lives in Unit 4 at Cherryfield Village.

Cherryfield Village, a lower-income housing development subsidized by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development, is managed by a Massachusetts-based company called Sterling Management, Inc.

Willard said about 75 percent of the 35-unit property's tenants signed and submitted a grievance about the issues to both Sterling and Rural Development at the beginning of September. She claims not much has been done other than the replacement of a section of rotted wooden siding on Oct. 29, and hopes intervention from a higher level of Rural Development will help end the issues before more people get sick.

"To me, any place you live that can be a health issue isn't right," said Willard. "(We don't want) these people to get sicker and sicker when there's an issue."

A group of Cherryfield tenants, led by Willard, began speaking with other residents at the five-building property in late August because they were dissatisfied with the overall upkeep, including structural issues such as rot on exterior doors, window frames and siding.

It was then, through speaking with sickly residents in units 28 and 31, Willard said the group first heard about suspected mold issues and illnesses. The group drafted a tenant grievance about all the issues and submitted it on Sept. 2.

After the grievance and a visit from Somersworth Code Enforcement Officer Tim Metivier, Willard said mold was found behind rotted boards near the bottom of the exterior wall of the building encompassing units 28 and 31. While tests didn't show there was mold inside any of the buildings, Willard said workers were hired by Sterling to replace the bottom section of waterlogged siding.

"(The boards) were so wet they were just deteriorated," she said. "They could just pry them off with their hands. They didn't need to use a crowbar or anything, and (the boards) were also covered in black mold."

She claimed the workers instructed Sterling the entire building's siding needed to be replaced, although Willard said Sterling President Phil Quinn told them to only do the bottom section.

"The workers... basically explained to Sterling it was just going to happen again within six months because (there was water) leaking in from the top," she said.

It was unclear why the decision was made to replace only part of the siding, as Quinn couldn't be reached for comment after multiple attempts. Metivier and the two individuals claiming to be sick due to mold, one of whom is on oxygen, also couldn't be reached for comment.

In a statement issued to Cherryfield residents on Sept. 15, Quinn said Sterling interviewed "many tenants" about the issues on Sept. 10 and found the majority "were surprised that we thought their specific units had mold." He also said it was the first time any mold-related issues were brought forward to them.

In the statement, Quinn also said Sterling Management is addressing and will continue to address issues brought forward and that they found through their thorough site evaluation. Overall, he said the "buildings looked fairly decent" aside from what needed to be done with the siding.

Willard contacted the New Hampshire office of Rural Development, which is located in Vermont, in October because she felt many of the issues hadn't been fixed and that Sterling Management wasn't going to deal with some of the issues. Since that contact with Rural Development, Willard said some of the siding has been replaced, although she said she feels not much else has been done.

Over the last month and after multiple correspondences, Willard said there hasn't been progress with Rural Development because they recommended the tenants with mold "send a written complaint directly to the (property) owners," something Willard feels has been done through the grievance.

Bob McDonald, the housing program director for Rural Development, said he has "no comment about any tenant's grievances" because the issue is "a personal matter between the tenants and the owner of the property," although he did say his office has yet to receive a formal tenant grievance about Cherryfield through Rural Development's formal grievance process, something which has to be done before they take action.

"The grievance has to be filed through (that process), and we don't have any formal grievance that's been filed other than a registered complaint from one particular tenant about the condition of the property that has been sent by e-mail," he said, also acknowledging they haven't intervened because there are signs Sterling is working to remedy the problem.

Willard said the next step for the tenants is to pursue action from Rural Development's St. Louis, Mo., office — the next level of command — in order to get Sterling to replace all of the siding on the affected unit, as well as fix the other issues and look under the other buildings' siding for mold.

She said she doesn't know what will come out of her group's effort, although she said something has to be done because residents are frustrated and don't know where else to turn.

"This is where we live," said Willard. "It really is a charming little place that is starting to look like a very unkempt development."

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